Joseph M. Schenck
3 credits on HibingeTV
Russian-born American film producer, born in 1877. With his brother Nicholas he built a major career financing and producing silent films, partnering with Buster Keaton (Battling Butler, The General) and later with the formation of United Artists and 20th Century-Fox. He was a key early figure of the studio system and a founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He died in 1961.
Produced
Comedy, Silent
A pampered millionaire named Alfred Butler goes on a camping trip to toughen up and falls for a mountain girl who has no patience for his softness. To win her, Alfred passes himself off as a famous boxer who happens to share his name, and the impersonation spirals toward a real fight he has no hope of winning. Buster Keaton directed and stars, and the film is one of his more plot-driven features, leaning on mistaken identity rather than pure stunt work. It was Keaton's highest-grossing picture at the box office, even if it is less celebrated today than The General or Sherlock Jr. The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2022.
Comedy · Silent
Battling Butler
1926 - Comedy
Mystery, Crime
A 1930 pre-Code mystery film directed by Roland West and produced by Joseph M. Schenck for United Artists. Based on the 1920 play The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, the film follows the mysterious criminal known as "The Bat" who terrorizes the occupants of a lonely country mansion. Notable as one of the first widescreen films, West shot the picture in both standard 35mm and an experimental 65mm format requiring two cameramen. The film stars Chester Morris, Una Merkel, and Grayce Hampton, and is widely cited as an inspiration for Bob Kane's Batman. Long thought lost, a nitrate print was discovered at the Mary Pickford Estate in 1987 and restored by UCLA. The film is in the public domain.
Mystery · Crime · Thriller
The Bat Whispers
1930 - Mystery
Adventure, Drama
A loose, swashbuckling portrait of the 15th-century French poet Francois Villon, played by John Barrymore at the height of his stage and screen fame. Villon is a tavern brawler and versifier who runs afoul of King Louis XI, played by the German actor Conrad Veidt in a Hollywood sojourn between Caligari and his later work in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari's shadow. The production was lavish, with sets by William Cameron Menzies and an estimated million-dollar budget. The only surviving domestic print was found years later in Barrymore's own former mansion by its next occupant, Edgar Bergen, and donated to the American Film Institute. It entered the public domain in the United States in 2023.
Adventure · Drama · Silent
The Beloved Rogue
1927 - Adventure